NZ and the Sustainable Development Goals

Despite its isolation in the southern pacific, New Zealand is a country that has never shied away from its commitment to the global community. The same commitment extends to the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These goals offer the global community a framework around which a sustainable future can be achieved for all. They address challenges we face including those related to poverty, inequality, climate, environmental degradation, prosperity, and peace and justice.

In true Kiwi fashion, to ensure that no-one is left behind, the government has put together a Voluntary National Review (VNR) on these goals, with contributions from a diversified group of stakeholders. The title to the VNR, ‘He waka eke noa’, a Māori proverb which translates to ‘we are all in this together’, brilliantly illustrates the holistic approach required from all sectors of society to tackle these global goals. No one person or organisation can achieve all the global goals alone. Cross-sector collaboration will be needed between the private sector, governments, and NGOs to rid supply chains of waste, embrace clean energy and empower communities to embrace positive environmental change.

He waka eke noa - we’re all in this together

The vision captured within the SDGs is showcased in the VNR through success stories from fantastic local, regional and national initiatives around the country helping to tackle the major issues facing our communities and whānau. Ahead of the NZ SDG summit in September 2019, Litefoot is delighted to announce that our story has been included on the 2019 NZ SDG Summit website under ‘case studies’.

Litefoot has been impacting a number of these goals since its inception over 10 years ago. Our current method of reporting impact is through tangible results based on club savings and greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions, but we are now transforming this information to communicate our global, national, and local impact on sustainable development.

We believe that there is real value in exploring the links between social, environmental, and economic issues through the lens of an environmental charity working in the sports sector. Litefoot is in a unique position to harness the values of sport to embed low carbon, positive, inclusive, peaceful, and sustainable behaviours into sporting communities and beyond. Measuring our commitment to the global goals gives us the ability to determine Litefoot’s impact both globally and nationally, and gives us a simple and global standardised method to relate our cause to the bigger picture. This gives us a framework to consider how we might be more innovative as we campaign on our own missions.